KEF R Series owners - Link Connection

[tyhjaarpa]

As a default KEF R Series speakers Link Connection is on but apparently quite loosely. I would advice to tighten the Link Connection and possibly check it once a year or two.

Yesterday I took my receiver to local shop to be tested and nothing came up. Home I had distortion and volume drops in left and center channel and I was assuming that my receiver is dying. Retailer called KEF representative and asked if there were any reports of problems with R Series speakers and he described the problems I had. KEF representative suggested to check Link Connections after hearing the problems. I went home and connected my receiver again and tightened the Link Connections.. Distortion and volume drops were gone! So apparently Link Connections were loose when they left the factory and in 2.5 years they loosened so much in left and center channel that it started to drop out connection causing distortion and volume drops.

For my luck everything is fine now and the problem was so small and easily solved. I thought it would be good to share this information for all R Series owners (might apply for other KEF speakers as well that use Link Connection) so they can be avare of this and possibly avoid getting some bad creeps!

 

[KenM10759]

Thanks for the tip. I checked mine (5 speakers) and all were nice and snug. I know the mains were the only ones I ever screwed around with myself, that brief period of believing bi-amping off my receiver was a beneficial thing to do. Those were fine too.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

Apparently the link connections are some how faulty in my speakers, for 3 weeks it was all good but now the distortion came back in the same 2 speakers it was before. I checked the link connections and they were all tight.. I opened the link connections and made jumpers from same speaker wire I use for all speakers and I'm all good again.. Hopefully it is solved for good now.

Speakers are still under warranty but I don't know if I want to bother to send these for repair as it would mostlikely take 2 weeks. Perhaps I send them to repairs when I'm moving next time.

 

[KenM10759]

If you're not fond of sending them in for repair, I know KEF would send you a new replacement for the binding post assembly if you or your local dealer is willing to swap them out. Myself, I wouldn't hesitate to remove the screws and have a look inside. If you do that, PLEASE take photos of the assembly and share them!

 

[tyhjaarpa]

If you're not fond of sending them in for repair, I know KEF would send you a new replacement for the binding post assembly if you or your local dealer is willing to swap them out. Myself, I wouldn't hesitate to remove the screws and have a look inside. If you do that, PLEASE take photos of the assembly and share them!

Hmm.. Perhaps I will have a talk with KEF representative in up coming hifi fair end of the month and see how it goes. If I can do it myself then why not if KEF agrees to that, would be a lot faster that way. And if I end up doing that I can take some photos for sure!

 

[tyhjaarpa]

Apparently my Kef speakers are perfectly fine and the problem indeed is with the receiver after all. Volume / distortion problems were reproducing and I have been investigating this issue more closely and the problem is receivers binding posts. When I connect everything sound is fine but when about 2 weeks passes I start to have problems again and while investigating this I have figured out that the receivers binding posts loosen up and the connection is not solid enough for signal to play correctly. I have never had this issue with my older receivers.

Does any one know if there are any ways to prevent binding posts from loosening?

 

[KenM10759]

I have never heard of that happening with a Denon or Marantz, especially their top model. Of course I don't know how you're connecting your speakers either.

My choice with my setup is to use speaker cables I made, employing the Blue Jeans Cable "Locking Banana Plugs" that we have available over here. I went to these because I *did* have cheap Monoprice banana plugs which definitely were loose in my speaker terminals and caused problems.

What type speaker wire termination do you use?

 

[tyhjaarpa]

I have never heard of that happening with a Denon or Marantz, especially their top model. Of course I don't know how you're connecting your speakers either.

My choice with my setup is to use speaker cables I made, employing the Blue Jeans Cable "Locking Banana Plugs" that we have available over here. I went to these because I *did* have cheap Monoprice banana plugs which definitely were loose in my speaker terminals and caused problems.

What type speaker wire termination do you use?

Ahh, I totally forgot to mention that, sorry about that. I'm using bare wire connection with 4 mm2 (close to 11/12awg) wire.

 

[KenM10759]

You might try going to banana plugs or spade terminals to see if it solves the problem.

 

[PENG]

I told you guys to bi-wire!! Serious, sorry about your defective links but I think you are right about not sending them back. The risk of getting damages is not worth it because you can use jumpers, or bi-wire them altogether.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

You might try going to banana plugs or spade terminals to see if it solves the problem.

I have been thinking of getting banana plugs but I dont really like the idea of having more connections than necessary.

I told you guys to bi-wire!! Serious, sorry about your defective links but I think you are right about not sending them back. The risk of getting damages is not worth it because you can use jumpers, or bi-wire them altogether.

If you read my latest posts the speakers are fine, the problem is on my receivers binding posts.

 

[KenM10759]

I have been thinking of getting banana plugs but I dont really like the idea of having more connections than necessary.

The risk of a stray strand of wire causing a short circuit and the problem you're having now are justification enough to add the more secure connectors. Done with quality components and attention to detail, it will have ZERO impact on sound quality and considering what you've been going though will in fact improve things.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

Ok. I have done some final adjustment to my bare wire connections, if it still is losening I'm going for either spades or bananas.

I would like to go for spades after reading more about the connectors if I have to, how ever what concers me is that is there any good quality spades that will fit my receiver as the binding post gap is quite narrow? I think it is around 5mm wide and most spade connecton I see are quite a lot wider.

 

[PENG]

Ok. I have done some final adjustment to my bare wire connections, if it still is losening I'm going for either spades or bananas.

I would like to go for spades after reading more about the connectors if I have to, how ever what concers me is that is there any good quality spades that will fit my receiver as the binding post gap is quite narrow? I think it is around 5mm wide and most spade connecton I see are quite a lot wider.

In my experience spade connections could come loose too, probably worse than bare wire in that sense. You really should be more open minded about banana plugs, the bad ones are bad, but the good ones are really good.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

In my experience spade connections could come loose too, probably worse than bare wire in that sense. You really should be more open minded about banana plugs, the bad ones are bad, but the good ones are really good.

Perhaps you are right. For some reason I'm quite skeptical for banana plugs connection and reliability.. I was thinking the same that spade plugs could get loose as well.. What I would like to have is connection that I don't need to worry about and it will hold and not to be weakest link in the chain. Reason I have been using bare wire is to have least amount of connections possible and it have worked perfectly untill this current receiver. Getting little bit frustrated with this situation with my receiver to be honest. In case I will indeed need plugs, what would you suggest for no signal loss and best reliability? I will need 10 plugs and I would like to stay around 30$ if possible.

 

[KenM10759]

What shopping venues do you have in Finland for such things? Got Amazon?

 

[tyhjaarpa]

What shopping venues do you have in Finland for such things? Got Amazon?

I can use UK/German amazon, ebay.. Ordering from USA is not a problem either if the retailer offers delivery to Finland..

 

[KenM10759]

These look pretty nice. I don't know the pricing translates to your currency.

Sewell Maestro

These are more secure, locking type:

Sewell Deadbolt

 

[tyhjaarpa]

Ok so I need to buy banana plugs for my wires.. I must say that I'm quite disappointed on the Marantz binding posts as they loosen up so easily, shouldn't be like that when you pay so much for a receiver.

These look pretty nice. I don't know the pricing translates to your currency.

Sewell Maestro

These are more secure, locking type:

Sewell Deadbolt

As for the price, around 25£ would be fine for the plugs. Little more would be fine as well if it would offer a lot better quality.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

After reading for a while I ordered the sewel deadbolts as they seem to be best plugs for 30€ delivered available for me. Hopefully these will solve my issue without compromising sound quality and they will stay connected untill I need to remove them myself.